Sarah Rice is the art director at Martinez Communications, an advertising and public relations firm.
WHAT DOES YOUR POSITION INVOLVE?
“As art director, I design brochures and stationery packages [letterhead, envelopes], coordinate copywriters, illustrators and photographers to produce all of the projects I handle.”
PUTTING THE ART IN ART DIRECTOR
“Every job I approach I want to do something different and try something I haven’t done before, much the same way an artist would approach a canvas. I like to consider myself an artist, not like a painter, but it is an art form.”
WHAT CLIENTS DO YOU SERVE?
“We do a lot of high-end real estate, some work for the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art — which I have a lot of fun with because we can combine our creative minds to come up with something striking — Paradise Golf and fast food.”
BORN
Jacksonville.
WHERE DID YOU GO TO SCHOOL?
“I majored in graphic design at Flagler College with minors in advertising and fine arts. I interned at Willman & Company as a junior art director.”
WHY GO INTO THIS FIELD?
“I never pictured myself in the corporate world. I has always been very artistic but I decided I wanted a steady paycheck. Working at an advertising agency, I get to work on something new constantly. I couldn’t stand to do the same thing every day.”
WHAT’S MOST REWARDING ABOUT IT?
“Getting to know, and work, with some of the most creative people in Jacksonville. Learning from them is really a privilege.”
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?
“It’s not always easy to come up with fresh, new ideas on a daily basis. I look to the people around me for inspiration when I feel my design is getting stagnant.”
HOME AND HEARTH
Mandarin is home to Rice and her husband John, the production coordinator for the PGA Tour.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Rice is a member of JMoMA and a youth counselor at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine. “John and I met at Flagler. It [Memorial] is where we got married. We go down there twice every Sunday. I enjoy working with the youth; it’s something I look forward to every week.”
SHUTTER BUG
“In college, I loved photography — taking pictures, developing them. I’ve tried to keep up with that. Normally I do portraiture and landscapes. I’d love to have a darkroom in the house.”
FAVORITES
For entertainment, Rice enjoys the film “Liar, Liar” and the television show “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Los Toros Mexican Restaurant is where she enjoys dining, but if she’s home, Rice is reading her favorite novel, “Pope Joan.”
DO YOU SPEAK SPANISH, CONSIDERING THAT MANY OF YOUR CLIENTS ARE HISPANIC?
“No, but I do pick up a lot from the Hispanic people I work with.” Currently, she is sharpening her language skills through self-improvement books in preparation for a mission trip to Mexico in July.
— by Monica Chamness